Homemade Black Pepper Cheez-Its

Crunching on things helps me think. And I’ve been thinking a lot lately. My brain is full of life thoughts, to-do lists and stuff…all resulting in me being spacier than normal.

My brain doesn’t have space to remember where I put my car keys. There’s other more important things to have room for!

But seriously, WHERE ARE MY KEYS?!

I have a million dollar idea for us. Don’t worry it’s not a weird pyramid scheme or anything.

Here it goes: I want to invent noise stickers and attach it to everything important. Like my sunglasses, wallet, credit card, car keys, laptop, etc., so every time something is missing, I’ll be able to go to a console where I’ll be able to page those things. Each item will have a different sound assigned to it so I’ll know which buttons to press. .

In a food processor, combine the cheese, butter, flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper in five 5-second pulses until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the half-and-half and process until the dough forms a ball, about 10 seconds.

On a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough roughly into a 13 by 7-inch rectangle that is 1/16-inch thick. With a pastry wheel, trim off the sides into a 12 by 6-inch rectangle. Next, cut the dough into 1 by 1-inch squares. Using the blunt end of a skewer make a hole in each cracker. Gently transfer the crackers (I needed to use a sharp knife to get them off the table) to a parchment lined baking sheet. The dough may sag or may break occasionally in the transfer, but don’t be concerned — just do your best. Sprinkle the remaining teaspoon of kosher salt all over the pre-baked crackers.

Bake the crackers on the middle rack for 15 minutes, or until the ends are barely browned. Remove from the oven and set the baking sheet on a rack to cool.

Hi Adrianna, I recently began an Internet Cookbook Blog, http://www.magnoliacollectionrecipes.com. Your recipe for “Homemade Black Pepper Cheez-Its” looks fantastic. I will definitely be trying it. It seems that every time I make a homemade cracker-type snack, guests are always amazed & delighted. Your website & choice of recipes are very appealing to me. Love the photos with the floured rolling board, the ravioli fluting tool for the edging, the lack of artificial orange coloring in the crackers, & the heavy black peppering. Makes my mouth water!
Before beginning my adventure into the Internet world of cooking, I had written & self published four cookbooks with 250,000 cookbooks in print; then I retired to give extra time to aging parents. Guess I just couldn’t permanently stay away, so hear I go again!
This week, I plan to add some favorite website links to my site. If you can find the time, I would greatly appreciate you taking a look at my site. If you feel that it is worthy of a link from your site, I would be very flattered. My best regards, Gene Westbrook

These look wonderful and how to fun to make your own crackers? I love the pepper in here. I am sure that addition really makes the cheese pop. Your pics are beautiful. I just bought a Pampered Chef pastry wheel so this would be a great recipe to try with it! Thanks for sharing this.

I just want you to know that thanks to that first {gorgeous} photo I am now munching mindlessly and happily on some pita crisps {who even knew that was a thing?} at my desk. Power of persuasion….at least to eat if not to make these lovely looking things. Hey, it’s late.

Hey girl, they already have something like that. It’s called a keyfinder. Some are noise activated, while others have multiple finders you put on objects and they are controlled by a remote. When you push the color coded button (blue for keys, red for purse, etc etc) that object will make noise.

Oh how i need a food processor! Ever since I saw Smitten Kitchen make her own flatbreads, I’ve been itching to make my own crackers, and these crackers just upped the ante! I love anything with a healthy dose of black pepper andt hese look divine!

We are cheeze it fiends! I made some for new years eve but they didn’t look anywhere as good as yours,so ill be trying your recipe soon.my mouth is literally watering.
Ps thanks for the tip on poking the hole to keep them from rising, I never knew

I actually tried making these today! They didn’t turn out anywhere near as pretty as yours though. … Probably because I didn’t have a tape measure handy and had to kind of eyeball it. They turned out delicious though! Tasted even better than a real cheez-it. I’ll have to make these again soon. 🙂 Thanks!

Just made these today– and let me tell you- they are AMAZING! As a family, we go through about 2 boxes of Cheez Its a week, but we don’t like the aftertaste they leave in your mouth- or the amount of fat in them– with this recipe, I know what I’m eating, there’s no aftertaste, and they’re better than the original! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe- love the addition of the black pepper!

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If I could only use one word for these…it would be A-mazing!! But since I can never say just one word…hahaha…just wanted to let you know how fabulous I thought these were. My bf and I gobbled these up so fast that I will have to make another batch tomorrow to enjoy at a more leisurely pace. I think I’ll play around with some spice combos…maybe cayenne and parmesan? Can’t wait to make some more 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

I use a coffee stir straw to poke the holes in my crackers.. : )
AND… with the leftover edges that I cut off to make my squares… I roll them into a long thin log and roll them in sesame seeds, cut them into small bite size pieces and bake them up golden brown for my hubby… he loves him some sesame seeds : )

WOW – fantastic, we couldn’t stop eating them, and I can send these to school, they pass the healthy snack test – the teacher doesn’t allow the box Cheez-Its but will allow these. Even my 15 year old son who loves Cheez-Its and was a skeptic and thought why bother, it’s just easier to open the box, realized these are probably healthier than the real thing and better! Thank you for your creativity, I found your blog from PW and I follow you regularly.

This is such a cute idea!
I think I may bring these to family thanksgiving!
I noticed people mentioning gluten free ideas. Tapioca flour is a great substitute, it is really hard to taste the difference between this and wheat flour.

These look lovely and delicious! But just so you’ll know, the cheese in your picture is shredded, not grated. Grated cheese is tiny, like what you do to Parmesan. Or nutmeg. It will make a difference in your recipe too. You have large shreds of cheese, and it IS what you want in this recipe. I like the touch with the zig zag cutter too. Yours turned out so nicely.